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Minnesota Gas Prices Continue Surge Toward $5.00

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The pain at the pump is getting worse as gas prices took another big jump locally.

Prices Friday morning broke the $4 a gallon mark. The average in Rochester is $4.12 and Austin and Albert Lea are at $4.09. The average prices across the state is $4.24.

"Big jump, ya very big jump,” said Sardar Khan.

Khan is the CEO of RST Transportation. Partnering with Rochester Public Schools and Olmsted County, the company provides rides for kids with special needs and for elderly people who want to run errands. The company’s seven vans are filled up daily, averaging around $300 a week. But this week it’s closer to $400. The extra cost has Khan thinking. “We have a small company. We have a small budget and now I'm thinking that we should lower the timings for our employees to maintain or provide transportation,” he said.

"The beer companies, food companies have a gas charge,” said Derek Wodziak, the owner of Broadway Pizza in Rochester.

Wodziak says the customers won’t see any changes because of the increasing costs, but the restaurant could.

“At the end of the year, there's probably going to be less profit, but we all have to run our businesses the best way we can. And I don't feel passing that on to the consumers is in our best interest. We will work on it internally, back of house prepping or better ways to order, to keep the money on the shelves that we need for new fees and costs with 4 or 5 or we don't know when it's gonna stop,” said Wodziak.

But if it doesn’t stop.

"If the prices goes up, $4.25, $5.00 we’re gonna have to think very hard,” said Khan.

"I'm gonna roll with the punches,” said Wodzia.

A gas expert says prices are expected to rise and could last for some time, but are expected to lower sometime after memorial day.